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When Three Had Failed
When Three Had Failed is a short story which Johns wrote for Pearson's Weekly 5 January 1935. The story was not gathered into an anthology in Johns' lifetime and only came out in Winged Justice and Other Uncollected Stories published by Norman Wright in 2001. Synopsis A father volunteers to take over the mission of his son, a secret agent who has failed to return. Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Roger Livvovk, a former intellgence agent calls on his old friend Ellison Westerley, the deputy director of Air Intelligence. He wants news of his son. Ellison, his old wartime comrade can hardly withold the news from him. Roger's son had failed to return from a mission. A German newspaper had published a short piece about an aircraft being found all burnt out in the Black Forest. Roger presses Ellison for details of the mission. Ellison tells him that intelligence knew that Germany had been building up a large airfleet, but the puzzle was, where was it being kept? By a process of elimnation, they had narrowed the area to a spot in the Black Forest all surrounded with electrified wire, guard dogs and guns. Agents near the frontier had heard the aircraft but aerial photography had revealed nothing over that spot. The only way would have been to fly low over the area to confirm it. Roger's son Peter had been the third to attempt the mission and all had not returned. Rpger surprises Ellison by volunteering for the mission. It is time, he says, "to show them what the old brigade can do." He reassures Ellison that "it will be like old times". The only way to get it is by parachute, Roger asserts. And don't worry about the egress. He will find a way out. "It's too much like old times for me," Ellison says, as he reluctantly pilots an aircraft over the Black Forest by night and drops Roger off by parachute. Some time later, Ellison receives one of Roger's carrier pigeons. The secret airbase is in the Black Forest after all. The runway had been cleverly camouflaged with folding artifical trees. The hangars had been dug into a surrounding hill. There were some twelve hundred four-engined low wing monoplanes with two or three mew ones arriving every day. Just then, Tomkinson, an orderly, enters to announce that Livvock's remaining three pigeons had all come back. Roger, it seems, has found his "way out". Characters *Ellison Westerley *Roger Livvock *Peter Livvock *Tomkinson - orderly at Air Intelligence headquarters Aircraft *British aircraft - used for the parachute insertion. The type is not stated but mention of struts and wires implies a biplane. *Four-engined German bombers - no actual type fits this timeline and description. The Condor was not built until 1937. Only two of the huge Junkers G-38 transports were built so there could not have been 1200 of them. Places *Air Intelligence headquarters, London *Black Forest Research Notes There is an editor's note at the end of the original published piece which emphasises that the events in the story, while based on current affairs, are entirely fictional. Publication History *Pearson's Weekly, 5 January 1935 *Collected in Winged Justice and Other Uncollected Stories, Norman Wright, 2001 References Category:Uncollected stories Category:Short stories Category:Other short stories